This invention relates to automatic garage door opening apparatus and more particularly to a mounting assembly for the safety sensors mounted on either side of the door opening adjacent the bottom thereof.
Effective Jan. 1, 1993 all electric garage door openers installed must be equipped with a safety device that will reverse a closing door if an obstruction is present in the last six inches of the door's travel. These safety devices have generally taken the form of infrared transmitter and receiving cells being installed on either side of the door opening at the bottom of the opening. The sensors have usually been mounted on a metal bracket that extends from the frame into the garage past the door track so as to give a clear transmission path across the door opening. The sensors have thus been subject to frequent impact with people, vehicles and other objects that knock the units out of alignment and even break them requiring replacement of the entire unit.
In addition the sensors being mounted in the open near the floor are subject to collecting all sorts of dust, dirt, insects and other debris which greatly reduces the sensitivity of the sensors and eventually may cause the door opener not to function necessitating frequent cleaning to ensure reliable operation.